A new analytical method for groundwater recharge and discharge estimation

SummaryA new analytical method was proposed for groundwater recharge and discharge estimation in an unconfined aquifer. The method is based on an analytical solution to the Boussinesq equation linearized in terms of h2, where h is the water table elevation, with a time-dependent source term. The solution derived was validated with numerical simulation and was shown to be a better approximation than an existing solution to the Boussinesq equation linearized in terms of h. By calibrating against the observed water levels in a monitoring well during a period of 100 days, we shown that the method proposed in this study can be used to estimate daily recharge (R) and evapotranspiration (ET) as well as the lateral drainage. It was shown that the total R was reasonably estimated with a water-table fluctuation (WTF) method if the water table measurements away from a fixed-head boundary were used, but the total ET was overestimated and the total net recharge was underestimated because of the lack of consideration of lateral drainage and aquifer storage in the WTF method.

► We developed a new method for groundwater recharge and discharge estimation.
► This method is based on an analytical solution to a linearized Boussinesq equation.
► The usefulness of the method is demonstrated with application.
► The location of observation point needs to be considered when estimating recharge.
► Lack of consideration of lateral drainage is a major source of estimation errors.